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                                                        The Florida SunFlash
New PostScript-Based Toolkit Used To Develop OPEN LOOK Applications
   
SunFLASH Vol 27 #19					          March 1991 
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     Sun Microsystems Introduces Developer Tool For Moving
                 Commercial Applications To Unix

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --March 25, 1991-- Sun Microsystems today
introduced The NeWS(R) Toolkit, its first toolkit for designing WYSIWYG
(what-you-see-is-what-you-get) applications that also use the intuitive
OPEN LOOK(R) Graphical User Interface.  These applications are for
UNIX(R) platforms that run the OpenWindows(TM) application development
environment.

The NeWS Toolkit is particularly well suited to applications that
require the capabilities derived from PostScript(TM), the
industry-standard imaging model.  Such applications include commercial
and corporate publishing, image processing, multimedia applications,
stock trading, mapping and electronic design automation.  Forrester
Research estimates that 40 percent of Sun's workstations will make
their way into the commercial arena by 1994, giving Sun the largest
market share of UNIX workstations sold into commercial client/server
environments.

The toolkit will be of interest to developers of Macintosh and PC
applications since it allows easy porting of these applications to a
much more powerful platform.

The NeWS Toolkit is part of the OpenWindows applications development
environment, which includes OPEN LOOK, OpenFonts(TM) font technology,
NeWSprint(TM) open printing technology and DeskSet(TM), a suite of
personal productivity tools and the X11/NeWS(TM) Window System.  This
window system combines the standard X Window System from MIT
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Sun's NeWS
(Network-extensible Window System) technology.

Field Proven

The NeWS Toolkit has been extensively tested, both at Sun for internal
applications and in customer sites.

"Our experience with The NeWS Toolkit confirmed it was the right choice
for porting Frame Maker 2.1 to OPEN LOOK," said Sheila Tabuena,
director of software development for Frame Technology, a leading
developer of electronic publishing applications.  "The toolkit's
flexibility gives us all the power of PostScript, faster rendering,
better font scaling, access to more fonts, an improved GUI and support
for great performance over low bandwidth networks.  And, it was quite
simply the fastest port we've ever done," she added.

Toolkit Features

The NeWS Toolkit is flexible.  For example, developers can easily
modify interface components or build their own from scratch.  Because
of its full PostScript imaging model, the toolkit helps developers to
create independent, scalable, graphics.

Other toolkit features include "smart" facilities for the creation of
windows, sliders, gauges, buttons and a variety of OPEN LOOK elements.
For example, the layout facility automatically arranges items in a
panel, regardless of the panel's size or shape.  Also, a complete text
editing facility can be incorporated by developers into OPEN LOOK
applications.

A code generator is bundled with the toolkit that automatically
produces developer code used by Sun's OpenWindows Developer's Guide
(Devguide) for fast and easy OPEN LOOK application development.

Availability

The NeWS Toolkit is available immediately from Sun Microsystems.  A
right-to-use license is bundled with every SPARCstation(TM) Sun ships.

PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe System, Inc.  NeWS is a
registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.  X11/NeWS, OpenFonts,
DeskSet and OpenWindows are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.  UNIX
and OPEN LOOK are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories,
Inc.  SPARCstation is a trademark of SPARC International Inc., licensed
exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All other products mentioned
herein are identified by the trademarks as designated by the companies
who market those products.  Inquiries concerning such trademarks should
be made directly to those companies.

For reader inquiries, telephone 1-800-821-4643.

PR contact
Cathleen Beall Garfield (415) 336-6536 
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